


Pointed Conversations

by snakeling



Series: Women of Barrayar [1]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-16
Updated: 2011-12-16
Packaged: 2017-10-27 10:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/294864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeling/pseuds/snakeling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Judith Vorbarra has a conversation with her new granddaughter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pointed Conversations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/gifts).



> Thanks to my beta, E, for her help and suggestions!

The bride and groom were dancing, opening the ball while the guests looked on with indulgent smiles and jealous glares. Piotr caught her eye and walked over to where she was sitting, his smile triumphant and wide. The glee on his face was unsettling. So very unlike him. Judith Vorbarra was sure he hadn’t looked half so happy when he’d married her daughter, and she knew he’d loved her as much as a man can love a woman.

“Truly a good match, wouldn’t you say?”

She looked at him coolly. “You do realise that the only reason he’s marrying her is because he can’t have her brother, don’t you?”

Though she would be considered as barely middle-aged by Betan standards, on Barrayar, she had now reached the status of “old lady”, which gave her the freedom to speak her mind as she saw fit, to extremes that neither her Betan origins nor her Imperial title had allowed. Piotr lost his smile and reddened, but he restrained the coarser words that came spontaneously to him. He’d always had the mind of a soldier, she thought, not without affection.

“Are you accusing my son of relations against nature?”

She snorted. “Oh, please, have you forgotten to whom you’re speaking? There’s nothing against nature about Aral’s feelings for Ges.” She ignored his mutter of ‘Betans!’ “I do think that allowing the boys to become so close family was a tactical error, though. Ges is...” She trailed her voice, unsure how to voice her gut feelings.

He raised his eyebrows. “Are you telling me that there are some things that Betans disapprove of?”

“You’ve been on the end of my disapproval often enough, haven’t you?”

He smiled. “I was talking about sex.”

“Anything not consensual,” she said promptly. “Aral wouldn’t. He’s not that kind of man. Ges, though, I’m not so sure about.” Her voice was low, pitched so only Piotr would hear her. Even with the political clout she possessed, it wouldn’t do to make an enemy of the Vorrutyer clan.

Piotr grimaced. “I know. He’s being shipped out next week with the _Emperor Dorca_.”

“And Aral?”

“The _Empress Catherine_. Completely different sector.”

“Good.”

The newlyweds had stopped dancing, leaving the floor to the rest of the guests. She was grinning happily, flushed from the dance and the words Aral was whispering in her ears. He looked smug and impatient, his eyes darting to the clock as if gauging how soon he could whisk her to his bedroom.

“You know, I do think you’re wrong about Aral and Ges. These are not the manners of a man in love with someone else.”

“Aral has always been extremely good at deluding himself.”

She stood, not caring to see the effects her words had on Piotr, and made her way through the crowd to the happy couple. She kissed Aral’s cheek and tucked Donna’s arm under hers.

“Hey!” Aral protested, laughing.

“I need to make my new granddaughter’s acquaintance. Get lost, now. I’m sure there are a number of your friends who are eager to congratulate you. Be careful not to drink too much, though, or you’ll have trouble performing tonight.”

He blushed and, recognising when discretion was the better part of valor, fled with a last look at his bride.

“Barrayarans!” She rolled her eyes. “So prudish, when you remind them that sex is an activity that women also enjoy.”

Donna was giggling helplessly and let herself be guided to a more secluded part of the room. She sat down daintily, smoothing her truly magnificent skirts. Judith waited her out patiently, until she looked up again, a question on her face.

“We haven’t managed to talk so far, and I rather thought it was needed.”

“Not that I mind, Your Highness, but aren’t we going to have all the time in the world once Aral and I go back from our honeymoon?”

Judith pinched her lips. “Call me Grandmama, please. And... we are, but I thought there was at least one matter of some urgency we should talk about _before_ your honeymoon, especially given your lack of a mother.”

A blush stained her cheeks and she looked away for a moment.

“I can assure you, Your —” She paused. “ _Grandmama_ , that my brother has taught me all I need to know.”

Judith looked on with approval. Donna was embarrassed and in a position of inferiority, but she held her own defiantly.

“Has he now?” Her tone was deliberately neutral, full of untold implications. There had been some nasty rumors floating around for a couple of years now, and while Judith didn’t really believe Ges Vorrutyer to be quite so depraved, it didn’t hurt to check.

Donna was no fool and caught her meaning immediately. Her eyes glittered with fury, her chin rose and she half stood, the better to look at Judith square in the eyes. “Whatever you’re implying, stop it. Stop it right now. I will not let myself, my brother or my husband be insulted this way. Weren’t we women, I would call you out right now. In fact, I’ve half a mind doing it anyway.”

In her anger, Donna looked beautiful where she’d merely been pretty before, and Judith smiled. “You’ll do,” she said bluntly. “You looked rather meek when I met you, and I was worried, but I see that I don’t need to be.”

“Was that a test?” She sounded indignant.

“Hmmm.” From one of her pockets, Judith retrieved a knife in its scabbard. It was elaborate and elegant, the scabbard leather inlaid with silver swirls, obviously what Barrayarans thought a woman’s weapon. It was also sharpened until it could cut through muscle and bone like butter. She laid it on her hands, showing it to Donna. “I believe it is tradition for a Vor mother to present a poniard to her daughter on her wedding day. I will leave out the usual admonition, as I don’t like it much.”

“Death before dishonor? No, I can see how that would be foreign to you.”

Genuinely startled by the girl’s spirit, Judith laughed. “I’ve never considered it dishonor, certainly not for the woman involved. Rapists, of course, have little honor to start with. And I made it my philosophy that it was better to outlive the bastards and take your revenge later.”

“Not very Betan of you.” Now she sounded more intrigued than insulted, and Judith smiled at her.

“I’ve managed to acquire a Barrayaran veneer over the years.” People tended to forget it, but she’d lived through both Cetagandan wars as well as Yuri’s war, and she’d been among the people who’d taken a cut of the Mad Emperor, five years ago. It went completely against everything she’d been taught, but she’d never lost a minute of sleep over it.

Donna looked at her for long seconds before slowly taking the knife from her hands, admiring the work on the leather and silver, drawing the blade out and testing it. After a minute, she looked up. “Will you help me put it on?”

With a smile, Judith wrapped the belt around Donna’s waist, hanging the knife as Xav’s mother had taught her decades ago. It clashed with her sumptuous, impractical wedding dress, but it went rather well with her eyes. They were resolute and steady, and Judith realised how very different she actually was from the ditzy girl she presented as. How Vor. Maybe she wouldn’t be such a bad match for Aral, after all. As long as her brother was kept very far away.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Lanna, I'll admit that when I received my assignment, I panicked a little. Then I read your letter, and a new world opened to me. You've given me dozens of ideas to write, and there will be more fics in this universe in the future.
> 
> Have lovely end-of-year holidays!


End file.
